No comments about From Belfast's Sandy Row to Buckingham Palace: The Story of John Gibson.

No comments about Eriskay Where I Was Born.

1 comments about Mary Queen Of Scots: Her Environment And Tragedy.

1. Forget Antonia Fraser, Alison Weir, and their sorry ilk; this hundred-year-old work still ranks as perhaps the most definitive biography of this most controversial of Queens to date. Henderson's work remains valuable because, unlike virtually every book to date about Mary Stewart (including John Guy's admirable recent bio,) the author manages to remain coolly objective. He comes neither to praise Mary nor bury her, although in the process he manages to do a judicious amount of both. In addition to this unusual lack of partisanship, his biography is solidly-researched, factually accurate, insightful, and well written. (As a bonus, Henderson is also very funny at times.)
   
   The one major flaw in the book is Henderson's cavalier treatment of the death of Mary's notorious second husband, Henry, Lord Darnley. Here, his usual common sense and restraint seem to utterly desert him. Perhaps overwhelmed by the sheer murky complexity of the crime (despite over four hundred years of effort by numberless historians, Darnley's demise still ranks as one of history's most stubbornly baffling unsolved murders,) Henderson really fails to even try and explain Kirk o'Field at all, retreating into vaguely muttering a recap of the most absurd contemporary efforts to frame Mary and the Earl of Bothwell for the slaying.
   
   When a reputable historian finds himself relying on George Buchanan for source material, you know he's in big trouble.
   
   I also wish Henderson had spent more time analyzing the Casket Letters in the main body of his biography, but I suppose that, having already devoted an entire book to the subject (the indispensable "Mary Queen of Scots and the Casket Letters,") he felt he had said his fill on the matter. He compensates, however, by including an appendix where he gleefully tears into Andrew Lang's famously indecisive book about the letters ("The Mystery of Mary Stuart," a work where Lang seemed to come to a different conclusion about their authenticity with each successive edition.) While this essay is one of the most hilarious historical Fiskings I've ever read, you can't help but squirm while he takes on poor Lang. It's a bit like watching Godzilla going through Tokyo.
   
   This book is one of the relatively few "must-reads" for anyone interested in the human puzzle that was Mary Queen of Scots.

No comments about Harry Pollitt (Lives of the Left Series).

2 comments about Aleutian Echoes (Lanternlight Library).

1. Captain Bradley, trained for mountain warfare in the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Infantry Division, was sent to the Aleutians to help create the North Pacific Combat School, in secret preparation for the assault on Japan which never came. Although never in combat, Bradley and the other instructors had their own battles, with treacherous terrain, poor equipment, and the worst weather in the world. Nicely illustrated with color photos and Bradleys own paintings. The introduction, not by Bradley, contains one factual error: the 364th Infantry Regiment relieved the 138th Infantry Regiment of the Missouri National Guard, not the 140th.



2. Charlie Bradley has written a fascinating book about his experiences in the "Mountain Brigade" in WW2. Through his shrewdness he avoided a mindnumbing GI tour in Illinois and ended up in the 87th Infantry Regiment on the slopes of Mt.Rainer with men training for action in mountainous terrains and in winter conditions. In June of '44 he found himself aboard a ship out of Seattle headed north for "Armageddon", the code name for Dutch Harbor, Unalaska. He would be an essential part of the soon-to-be-born North Pacific Combat School, which would move to Adak several months later. Charlie has written a rivetting account of his experiences, most in the Aleutians. It is profusely illustrated with gorgeous color photographs (amazing how most stood the years!) and his water color drawings. I stayed up late into the night to finish reading it. (OK, I'm biased somewhat. I've been in the Aleutians and feel a strong bond to anyone who's been out there roughing it.)

No comments about Hay Days.

No comments about The Diary and Correspondence of Charles Abbot, Lord Colchester; Speaker of the House of Commons 1802-1817: Volume 2.

No comments about uvres de Chateaubriand: Tome 9: Analyse raisonnée de l'histoire de France.

No comments about Aus dem Leben Theodor von Bernhardis: Teil 5. Der Streit um die Elbherzogtümer: Tagebuchblätter aus den Jahren 1863-1864.

5 comments about Violent Delights.

1. This book may not be the most well-written, but it gives the reader plenty of insight as to how the troubles of Northern Ireland escalated in the 1970's. It is also gives a detailed and painfully honest account of a love affair that should never have been between a naive, romantic, Irish nationalist, and a deceptive British SAS soldier (the author). Though the author portrays his lover as a would-be killer, in the end he reveals the British government's role in the tragic events of that time. For those with an interest in politics and romance, go for this one.



2. The writing is fairly pedestrian and the author fails to really capture the reader. The book deals more with the number of times the two characters got together than with the politics of N. Ireland.

   Even thought the writer is a former SAS soldier, he reports one atrocity of the British in Northern Ireland but fails to truely acknowledge the discrimination or convey the deep divisions found here.




3. This is one of the most sad and unusual love storys I have ever read. For an SAS soldier to fall madly in love with an IRA killer is so unlikely but here is the true story of such an event. It not only divulges the love story but also gives great detail of bombings and shootings that took place in Northern Ireland in the 70's and 80's. I just wish there could have been a follow up to the story but that was not to be...... to find out why you'll have to read the book and I guarantee you, you wont be disappointed.



4. I have to honestly admit, I've gone back and forth trying to decide whether or not this book is on the level. The premise is incredible-an SAS trooper and an IRA member falling in love. As I've thought over all the information in this book, it does seem plausible to me that it's the real deal. As an SAS trooper, Graham is incredibly sympathetic to the Irish. But, at the same time, he pulls no punches when describing the methodology of the IRA. At the same time, the information I've found on Mairead Farrell isn't contradicted by his novel, and given the amount of information the IRA puts on the web, there would definitely be some rebuttle if Graham was full of it. Graham gives a pained account of the Gibraltar incident-which gives the book more credence. An SAS trooper simply toeing the line (i.e. writing propagnda) wouldn't have cast doubt on the integrity of that operation.

   So. What do we have? Probably the most intense pair of star crossed lovers since Romeo and Juliet. Also, we have a small slice of the war between the Brits and the IRA.

   Personally, I haven't read anything this powerful in God knows how long. (If you suspend disbelief). I recommend this to everyone.




5. This book doesn't work for me, and I have read a few. Probably would have been a great Mills & Boon had it not been so gratuitously violent. The contrived violence is a mask used in an attempt to validate what is most obviously fiction. There is no credibility. Nothing is delivered in this novel that cannot be garnered in the public domain or with a little research. It sits on my shelf alongside another book that defies all reality, i.e. OPJB, a work of complete and utter nonsense. A total waste of time for anyone interested in the real world. It is a fantasy probably perfect for lower end television grist-mill.